A Few More Narratives – Young Guys With Old Plays, Penalty Kill Prowess, Shootout Selection

Last night was about as close to up against the clock as I like a game story to be.

How it goes sometimes, but as Jon Rosen taught me, getting the post-game quotes up before the plane takes off is paramount and I probably beat that cutoff by around 90 seconds last night. Maybe as tight against the wire as I’ve been, minus one debacle when I was filling in back in the 2019-20 season when my hotspot failed me and I fought plane WiFi to the death to get the sucker posted.

Last night’s recap was actually one of the shortest ones of the year, and much of that stemmed down to a race against the clock. We got it up and out, and that’s that, but in the process, a few important narratives were missed, so I’d like to share those now and dive in with a little bit of additional detail.

Young Players, Veteran Plays
Picture this scenario.

There are less than four minutes to go in the game and the Kings trail by a goal. The teams are skating 4-on-4 due to penalties assessed less than 40 seconds apart, a big opportunity for the Kings to try and chase a goal. Picture in your head who you think might be on the ice in that situation……did you have Gabe Vilardi, Quinton Byfield and Brandt Clarke all playing together?

“I think guys like Gabe and Quinton have to take more of that on, when we started running penalty killing tonight, we had Gabe and Q out in a 4-on-4 situation. As they continue to evolve as young players and continue to play well, they get more and their confidence level should be really high right now.”

That was the trio that complemented the eventual goalscorer – Matt Roy – in a key situation late in the third period. The Kings needed a goal and the combination of Vilardi and Byfield has been hot as of late. Byfield has taken a huge step forward in his development process here early in the season, and his confidence in carrying the puck, and making plays with it, has been noticeable. As has his chemistry on a line with Vilardi, with the latter already scoring earlier in the game.

Also on the ice was Clarke, who saw extr shifts during the third period with the Kings trailing. Clarke moved up in the lineup for additional minutes with both Roy and Drew Doughty at times, with his offensive skillset and his ability to play on the left side granting him a bit of extra ice time down the stretch.

All four players on the ice made important plays during the sequence. Clarke initially activated to take the first shot attempt, which Byfield retrieved to keep the play alive. Vilardi, stationed at the left point, made a heads-up read as a Nashville player briefly left the play to get a new stick from the bench, which freed up Roy creeping in from the right point. We all know the end result and he made no mistake on a finish Cal Petersen knew he’d bury.

Killing It
The Kings put together – statistically speaking at least – their strongest performance of the season on the penalty kill.

While last night’s game featured fewer offensive-zone penalties, an obvious area of focus going in, the Kings certainly took their share of minor penalties, with most taken in the process of defending. Four of the penalties were holding minors, which seemed to be a point of emphasis. There was no bigger moment in overtime than the final 1:48, in which the Kings were shorthanded. While it wasn’t perfectly clean, the Kings did a good job of staying compact and getting clears when they were needed, while a timely block from Mikey Anderson preserved the opportunity to get two points. Cal Petersen cleaned up the rest, with several key saves throughout the evening while shorthanded.

“I thought we had some good goaltending and I think guys were selling out and blocking shots,” Roy said. “I thought we were aggressive too, which helps.”

Todd McLellan always notes that penalty killing starts with the goaltender, and it was perhaps when the Kings were shorthanded that Petersen was at his best last night. The Kings were shorthanded for 8:27 and Petersen made eight saves during that time.

McLellan was complementary of his goaltender in those situations, as well as the entire group for keeping their structure, especially during the 4-on-3 in overtime to take away the most dangerous looks in that situation.

“The goalie made saves and he got us whistles when we needed,” McLellan said. “The stands and the retrievals were pretty good tonight. In zone, we had some big blocks, I thought we were smart when penalty killing overtime, 4-on-3. We gave up some shots but they weren’t cross court shots and execution was pretty good.”

For his part, Petersen dished most of the credit to the players in front of him. Blocked shots are always something that will make a goaltender happy, and in a separate quote, Petersen praised Anderson for his effort in the denial made during overtime.

“It just starts with blocking shots and getting our clears out and when they did have pressure, we minimized their opportunities and forced them into situations where either it wasn’t the play that they wanted or it was a relatively easy save for me. The guys did a great job, I think penalty kill has been big focus for us because that was something that we struggled at times with last year and it starts with the goaltending and goes on out. When we’re cohesive like that it works out really well.”

Shootout Selection
The players selected were obvious choices – Just 12 players have scored more goals in the shootout over the last five seasons than Kevin Fiala, who led off, while Gabe Vilardi is a regular in those situations.

But the question HAD to be asked…….coming out of a two-goal performance, where was Matt Roy on the list?

“You know what, I had a few guys that mentioned number three,” McLellan said with a laugh. “But we saw all our D take shots in exhibition season and they’re a little ways down the line.”

Hard to argue with a picture-perfect moment from Vilardi though, bringing back a game-winning goal from the AHL in 2019 to win a game in the NHL nearly three years later!

They say @TheAHL is a development league……☔️ pic.twitter.com/7FLYcJp9TP

— Zach Dooley (@DooleyLAK) October 19, 2022